Well, there's no way around it. I guess it's time I throw in my thoughts on the whole Game of the Year thing. There's been a lot of talk on the subject of which game deserves that loftiest of accolades, the award all games dream of having, and the honor and immortality that comes alongside it: Game of the Year! So, is it Grand Theft Auto V, The Last of Us, Bioshock Infinite, or Tomb Raider? Well, you guys know me. I'm a Nintendo fan, so we can rule out those four titles. So, is it A Link Between Worlds, Pokemon X and Y, or Super Mario 3D World? Pfft, like I'm gonna spoil it for you. But, enough screwing around. Let's talk about the five games I enjoyed the most from 2013.

Overall, it was a pretty big year as far as game releases go.

Super Mario 3D World (Wii U)

Mario's been one busy plumber of late, hasn't he? Nintendo's been pushing out Mario games like there's no tomorrow. Heck, last year, we had two 2D sidescrollers starring Nintendo's biggest mascot. So, it's a little understandable if his games have been feeling a bit...routine lately. Not so Super Mario 3D World. This game is just brimming with the colorful inventiveness that we all love Nintendo for. The multiplayer was a complete blast, the graphics were gorgeous, and the level design was masterful. Does it elevate and reinvigorate the Mario formula in the same way Galaxy did? No, unfortunately. But I'll take it over another New Super Mario Bros. game in a heartbeat.

Congratulations, Mario and Co.!

Rayman Legends (Wii U, PS3, Vita, Xbox 360, PC)

It was quite a year for platformers wasn't it? As a connoisseur of the platforming genre, one of the best representatives of it was Rayman Legends. Following in it's predecessor's footsteps, Legends delivers some of the zaniest, craziest, whackiest, most hilarious levels I've seen in ages. In how many games do you run away from rampaging giant luchadore or infiltrate an undersea base guarded by toads cosplaying Sam Fisher from Splinter Cell? Not very many, I'd wager. Add to that some of best use of the GamePad for multiplayer, and you have the definitive platformer on Wii U.

As a reward, Rayman gets one hundred fanged, hairy monsters to chase him!

Pikmin 3 (Wii U)

Remember how the Wii U had no games for the better half of the year? Good times, yeah? Thank goodness Pikmin 3 was there to put an end to that nonsense. So, what makes this game so good? Is it the one-of-a-kind RTS gameplay? Yes. Is it the beautiful graphics that help realize a beautiful, vivid world? Yes.

Just looking at it makes me feel all calm and serene.

Is it the intensely addicting challenge maps? Yes. Is it the barrels of fun offered by Bingo Battle? Yes. And I dare you to find one game, any game, that has better juice physics than this one. Pikmin 3 is a solid package, a terrific third entry to one of Nintendo's lesser known, yet no less loved, franchises. This was the first Pikmin game I've played, and I can't wait to play the previous two entries. And color me excited for Pikmin 4, even if we have to wait another two generations for it to come out!

The Wonderful 101 (Wii U)

This game has a lot of problems, I'll be the first to admit. It has quick-time events (the cardinal sin of game design) and long cutscenes that break the flow of the action all too often. But none of that matters. Because The Wonderful 101 is awesome. It's fun. It's crazy. And it's one of the most unique things I've seen from this industry in a long time. In an age where game developers adhere to established franchises like glue and sequels are expected rather than a reward for popular and deserving franchises (I'm looking at you, Ubisoft) The Wonderful 101 stands out as a breath of fresh air. Yes, I have my complaints with this game. I've voiced them before. But those complaints are reduced to dust as I'm fighting a giant robot in outer space with a sword the size of a planet!

After all, who can't love a game where you punch giant robots in the crotch?

And finally, my Game of the Year award goes to...drum roll, please...

Fire Emblem: Awakening

Having come out much earlier in the year, most people seem to have forgotten about Fire Emblem: Awakening in favor of more recent releases. But not me. Out of all the games this year, Fire Emblem: Awakening is easily the one that had the greatest impact on me.

Strategy RPG gameplay at its finest.

It tells a moving narrative about the bonds of friendship in the midst of adversity. A common theme among the Fire Emblem series, to be sure, but Awakening took it a step further by giving you the ability to pair units up in battle and eventually have them get married when their Support reaches a high enough level. Everyone who plays it will wind up with a different experience. Sometimes, it can be very slight, but other times it can vastly change the context of certain scenes. For instance, in my first playthrough, I paired Lucina with my custom character, Garfunkle. Remember the scene where Lucina confronts your custom character and tries to kill him in order to prevent him from killing Chrom in the future? Just imagine how much more of a difficult decision it must have been for Lucina when Garfunkle was more than just some random ally, but her own husband! Being able to play with the story like that in seemingly subtle ways that can have drastic results on the story is just one of the things that makes Awakening such a masterpiece of a game and my Game of the Year for 2013. Congratulations to Intelligent Systems and Fire Emblem: Awakening!

It's Christmas time again! One thing I tend to do during the holiday season is to reminisce on Christmases past. There's one a few years ago that I'm particularly fond of, the Christmas of 2004. Why does that particular Christmas have such a significant value over any of the others? Well, it was the year that I got my GameCube. Nine years ago, I probably wouldn't have known that the GameCube would go on to become my favorite console, but here we are. Yes, even though many consider the GameCube a “failure” for various reasons, it still holds a special place in my heart thanks to its fantastic library of unique and enjoyable titles. The first game I had on the GameCube that I got that same Christmas morning was Super Smash Bros. Melee, a classic fighting game and second installment in Nintendo's popular mascot brawling series.

There's a lot to be said about Melee and the Smash Bros. series in general. From its easy-to-learn-difficult-to-master mechanics to vast array of content, reviewing such a game can prove to be a challenging task. So, let's just focus on how Melee improves on the foundations set by its predecessor on the N64.

Having replayed both recently, the first thing I noticed was how much better Melee felt in terms of controls. Everything felt smoother and more natural. Of course, this might have something to do with the GameCube controller being a huge improvement over the N64's oddity of an input device. The looser analog stick makes moving the character much easier. The triggers are mushier, which is always a good thing. The GameCube controller's oddly shaped face buttons come into their own as well. Your main attack is mapped to the biggest, most accessible button, the A-button, while secondary actions are mapped to the smaller, yet just as accessible B, Y, and X buttons. The addition of the second thumb stick makes it easier to pull off Smash Attacks. It baffles me to this day that the C-stick can't be used for that purpose in single-player, though. I just wish Nintendo had stuck with the GameCube controller's design for future consoles, but, alas, it wasn't meant to be.

The game looks nice too. As one of the earlier GameCube titles, it was meant in part to show off the power of the system, as can be seen with the FMV intro sequence.

Glorious!

It runs at a nice clip as well, which is an absolute must for a game based around quick reactions like this one. The visuals may not have aged as well as other titles on the system, but they're still very serviceable to this day.

What really sells the game, however, is its cast of characters. I can't think of a single fighting game with a roster as diverse as any Smash Bros., wherein you can have an adorable pink puffball fighting a badass, armored bounty hunter from space fighting a dark lord from a high fantasy world fighting an Italian plumber from Brooklyn. What made the original game such a success was that it finally put Link, Mario, Pikachu, and Samus into one game, so players could duke it out to see who really is the best Smasher. Melee improved on this concept nicely by adding in a whole new batch of characters, each with their own signature fighting style. Zelda is a prime example of this, as she's literally two characters in one, being able to transform into Sheik at will. And special thanks must be given to Melee for introducing us Westerners to the Fire Emblem series. Thanks to Marth and Roy's appearance in the game, awareness and demand for the series became so great, we finally got Nintendo's strategy RPG across the pond. Now, if only Nintendo would throw Platinum Games a similar bone and put one of the Wonderful Ones and Bayonetta in the next Smash Bros!

If you're one of those people who worry about games having enough content in them to justify their pricey...well, price tag, then rest assured in Melee because it offers your bang for your buck and then some. This is the kind of game that will keep you invested for months on end if you're even the slightest completionist. Between unlocking all the fighters, stages, and trophies, I don't think I've experienced half of what this game has to offer, and I've had it for about a decade! And that's not even touching on the single player options. There's your standard Classic Mode, where you fight with other characters in the roster, culminating in a climactic showdown with the mysterious Master Hand. Adventure Mode is an odd beast that has you doing a variety of different tasks, like navigating a sidescrolling maze, escaping a planet before it self-destructs, or running along a racetrack and avoiding the vehicles as they go whizzing past, all interspersed with fights against certain Nintendo characters. It's a neat little distraction and it's always funny to see Samus in the Mushroom Kingdom, blasting Goombas with her missile launcher.

Just another day in the Mushroom Kingdom.

Event matches are another new addition. They involve taking on an array of challenges set in the midst of a normal fight. For example, you might have to KO Princess Zelda, but only when she's transformed into Sheik. Another event challenge might have you fighting a multitude of rainbow-colored Kirbies. Alternatively, they can be as simple as pitting Mario against Bowser or a Tiny Donkey Kong against a giant Donkey Kong. Sometimes the odds will be stacked against you and you'll have to use the environment to your advantage. Like when you have to take on three Metal Samuses each with two stocks a piece while you only have one, forcing you to use the rotating stage to trick the A.I. to falling into the abyss. Each of these challenges is rewarding in their own way, making them well worth trying out.

But, I'm gonna level with you guys, as much as I may love Melee, I really do think Brawl is the better Smash Bros. I know people on the internet love to bash Brawl every opportunity they get and call it inferior to Melee in every way possible, but I guess I just don't fall into that category. And I get it, tripping was really a stupid new mechanic that added nothing except an element of randomness in a highly skill-based game. However, in the face of all the improvements Brawl brought to the series, tripping seems really insignificant. The graphics were better, the roster was larger, there were more stages, and Subspace Emissary was like the Adventure Mode from Melee with awesome cutscenes. Brawl has a stage creator, online play, demos for Virtual Console games, and more controller options.

Sorry to get off topic like that, but it's something I've wanted to say for quite some time now. Anyway, Super Smash Bros. Melee is a truly remarkable game. It improves on the franchise in numerous ways, from the graphics, to the controls, and to all the content it has in store for players. It's a seminal classic for the GameCube, being not only one of its highest rated games, but also its best-selling. If you're one of those people who own a GameCube and not Melee, you owe it to yourself to pick up this game. Then again, I think it's pretty much a mandated fact that if you have a GameCube, you have to have this game. Okay, if you have a Wii, but not Melee, you owe it to yourself to get this game, a GameCube controller, and a GameCube memory card to play this game. In fact, you'd probably be better off getting several GameCube controllers in case some friends come over. Or you could just play Brawl, which, as we've already established, is indisputably better than Melee. I don't know how to end these things...